Support for Fair Compensation Growing

Waterloo Region has declined to sign a 20 year agreement with Enbridge Gas which would lock them into paying for the gas utilities infrastructure for another 20 years. This follows a similar decision of Council at Guelph. Now both municipalities are due to face a hearing before the Ontario Energy Board, who has the power to impose an agreement. 

See Waterloo Record article for more details. 

Also, The Narwhal, a reader-supported, non-profit magazine has published a comprehensive background to the issue entitled In Ontario, Enbridge Gas gets to build pipelines on public land for free. Waterloo Region and Guelph want to change that.

from the article

A pivotal shift in Ontario’s relationship with natural gas seems to be underway, with Waterloo Region becoming the second municipality to resist renewing a contract that allows Enbridge Gas to build pipelines on public land for free.

Guelph took a similar stance a year ago, ultimately deciding not to sign the contract. It would have locked the city in for another two decades of offering free land to the company that sells natural gas, which is largely made up of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere.

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As Guelph and Waterloo Region, with a combined population of almost 900,000 people, challenge an energy giant, the next 20 years for municipalities across Ontario hinge on what happens next. 

Here’s everything you need to know about the agreements and the brewing local fight to change them.

Since the original article, The Narwhal has a followup article Enbridge Gas asks Ontario energy regulator to affirm its free access to public land in Waterloo Region.

Also, visit our Initiatives page for our Fair Compensation for the Use of Municipal Land campaign for more resources. If you are company that supports our position, please sign our petition.